Morning journal and courier., 1887-11-08
THE OSAGE INDIANS.


 Men and Are All Wealthy.
 Kansas City Times Osage Agency Letter.l
 A visitor to the Osage reservation, if he has mind to study the human race under varying conditions, finds much of interest. He is inter primos among the aristoerats. The Osage Indians are about the only exam pie now left in the United States of a real aristocracy. They do not depend upon gov ernment rations, as do the Cheyennes and others, at ali, but have enough as their own undisputed property to make them the wealthiest community in the country. Be- sides the land of the reservation, which be- longs to them by title hard to assail, they have about seven million dollars bearing five per cent. interest in the hands of the govern msnt. They are paid about two hundred ard fifty thousand dollars a year in cash The entire tribe numbers only sixteen hun dred, so that they actually the richest body of people we have.
 The Osages have all the attributes of an aristocracy. They own the land, do abso- lutely no work, have plenty of money, know nothing of barter and sale, and therefore not much of the meanness which characterizes all commercial classes. They envy nobody and satisfied with themselves and their customs. With the virtues of aristocracy they have its vices. With generosity they have shiftlessness and laziness in per lection. Though magnificent pastures lie before them for miles few of them take the trouble to own cattle, the majority prefer ring to buy beef already slaughtered and cut up from the traders. They are not even hunters and fishers. Their lives are spent in lying around under tents and shanties, eating to repletion and filling ] their blood with impurities which they do LaJ- -. zE l Bad habits have brought bronchial and scrofulous diseases. which are helping to still further reduce their numbers. They have no faith in white physicians, and their own medicine men have as much influence as hundred years ago.
 The government puts premium on re- ! production by the system of distribution adopted Each member of the tribe, inclu- ding women and children. receive about one hundred and sixty dollars every year. The ! more wives and children an Osage has, there- ! fore, the richer he is. In spite of this en- couragement the tribe is decreasing. A white physician at the agency estimates that I the rate of decrease is not less than two per I cent. year among the full bloods. The \ half-breeds are increasing. It can be at once 1 reckoned that in another half century the full bloods will have gone and the splendid inheritance will be in the possession of white men and their children, even if no new poli-
 
 the catastrophe. Some of the half breeds show intelligence and industry beyond the average white man. Ed Matthews the dep- uty marshal and secretary of the council, is clever young man who writes better Eng fish than many college graduates, is a dead shot, brave lion and with the manners of gentleman. The Rogers brothers are also good types of manhood. Judge Rogers, who gets his title from having been chief- justice of the nation, is a remarkably fine looking man of about fifty years, with 8 handsome, open face and stalwart figure By pure industry and business capacity he has accumulated considerable wealth in the shape of cattle and crops. All the half breeds are not up to the Matthews and Rog CTS standard, however. Many have none of the virtues of the parent races and an abun dance of vices.
 The full -bloods are nearly all honest and manly in their way. They have an idea that everything on the reservation belongs to them, and they go behind the counters and among the goods of the post traders as free- ly as though they were proprietors. Up to certain point they understand business-deb- it and credit-but not much beyond the sim plest forms As might be expected, they are chemically in debt They want to buy eve rything they see and think little of prices, and give away as readily as they buy. Oth- CT tribes not we'll provided with worldly goods are fond of visiting the Osages, and on these occasions the custom or smoking presents works to the disadvantage of the wealthier. Several hundred ponies and large amounts of various property have thus been given to the Kaws and other poorer tribes within few years.
 The local government of the Osages is eommunistic. The lands are held by the tribe at large, and their affairs are adminis- tered by chief, council, judiciary and a police force. For all practical purposes, however, it is only toy government. The United States interferes at every turn, and may really be said to be the only govern ment. The Indian police not efficient I and nobody planes them. The department l has so much to say that not lawyer in America knows what the status of an Indian tribe is or where the boundary lies between Osage jurisdiction and government surveil- I lance.
 There are many interesting things about these Indians. Their traditions, costumes, dances, language and manners are fnll of odd points. Being very pure race they cling to their customs tenaciously, and being taught by the government much as child teaches puppy, with mixture of instruc- tions they do not comprehend and indul- | gences they were better without, their prog Iess towards civilization is much slower than their progress towards extinction. Their history may sometime make subject for mournful romances. That seems to be the only prospect for Osage usefulness.